Indonesia, Dong Son Culture, ca. 500 to 100 BC. Warrior Sword with iron blade and elaborate bronze handle. By about 300 BCE a civilization with elaborate arts based on bronze working existed, extending from the Tonkin region into Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia. This is called (for convenience, after a major site) the Dong Son culture, though it may not have been a true cultural unity. Size: 2.5" W x 20" H (6.4 cm x 50.8 cm); 22" H (55.9 cm) on included custom stand.

A variety of bronze ritual works, many decorated with human and animal figures and with masks, were cast by the lost-wax method (metal casting using a wax model). The chief objects were ceremonial drums, large and small; the largest was found in Bali and is called ?the Moon of Bali? (see below Indonesia). Extremely elaborate bronze ceremonial axes were made?probably as emblems of power. Certain relief patterns on the bronzes suggest that ?ship of the dead? designs, such as those woven in textiles in both Borneo and Sumatra, may well have been woven even then. The spiral is a frequent Dong Son decorative motif; later Dong Son art may have been responsible for transmitting?especially into Vietnam, Cambodia, and Borneo?versions of the contemporary Chinese Zhou dynasty?s asymmetrical squared-hook patterns.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection, acquired from 2000 to 2010

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#184919

Iron blade with liberal oxidation but stabilized to resist additional losses.